The Parker Expedition Postscript

Over a three year period, between 1909 and 1911,  Montagu Parker oversaw an excavation near, and then in, the Temple Mount.

In?

In April 1911 they bribed the guardian of the Haram al-Sharif to let them dig in the Dome of the Rock. They were discovered and riots and disorder broke out.

But what happened to the local officials?

We know that Governor Azmey Bey was fined $25,000 for allowing a dig in oriental disguise on the Temple grounds after dark. Historians have noted that Azmey Bey included Sheikh Khalil al-Ansari, the superintendent of the Haram, in this agreement and 'An angry crowd of Muslims and Jews', "united for this one and only time in their indignation", tried to lynch Sheikh Khalil al-Ansari and the translator Hagop Makasdar in Jerusalem. Only the arrest by Ottoman soldiers saved their lives. (Al-Ansari was later executed; Makasdar, the only member of the expedition whose authorities could get hold of him, was sentenced to prison.

More in this book.

According to Ha-Herut newspaper published in Jerusalem, in its December 11, 1912 edition, there was a trial

and we know that Khalil was given a year's imprisonment, his sons, Hassan and Said were given three months imprisonment and Anoub, head of the gendarmerie, and two other security officials were sentenced to a month each. Having been incarcerated during their trial for more than that period, they were immediately released.

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The Difference Between Roofs on the Temple Mount

Do you know what caused me to publish this photo?

Well, unlike the Dome of the Rock:

...the centrepiece of this majestic complex was the Temple itself. A building of shining white marble and gold, with bronze entrance doors, it was said that you could not look at the Temple in daylight as it would blind you. The attention to detail in its construction is exemplified by the placing of gold spikes on the roof line of the building to prevent birds sitting on the Temple and soiling it.

Source, Middot, Chapter 4, Mishnah 6:-

The Sanctuary was a hundred cubits square and a hundred cubits in height. The solid basement was six cubits, and the height [of wall built thereon] forty cubits, the wall-frieze one cubit, the place of drippingst two cubits, the roof-beams one cubit, and the plasterwork one cubit; and the height of the upper chamber was forty cubits, the wall-frieze one cubit, the place of drippings two cubits, the roof-beams one cubit, and the plasterwork one cubit; and the parapet three cubits and the scarecrow one cubit. R. Judah says: The scarecrow was not taken into account; but the parapet was four cubits.
 

and in the Rambam:

Sefer Avodah, Beit Habechirah, Chapt 4, Halacha 3

The Temple building constructed by the exiles [returning from Babylon] was one hundred cubits long, one hundred cubits wide, and one hundred cubits high. The measurement of its height can be described as follows:

They built a solid base six cubits high resembling a foundation for it;
the Sanctuary, 40 cubits high;
an ornate ceiling, one cubit high;
above that, two cubits were left empty to allow dripping [water] to collect [and to be drained off]; this was called the Beit Dilpa;
the roof above the Beit Dilpa was a cubit thick;
the plaster, a cubit high;
an upper storey was built on it; its walls were 40 cubits high;
its roof included an ornate ceiling one cubit high;
a Beit Dilpa, two cubits high;
a roof, one cubit high;
plaster, one cubit high;
a guard rail, three cubits high;
a sheet of iron resembling a blade, a cubit high, was placed all around the guard rail so that birds will not rest upon it. It was called the Kaleh Orev. (The Rambam's Commentary to the Mishnah translates that term as "the raven decimator" and explains that the sharp blade would cut off the birds' feet.) 

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What's That on the Dome of the Rock?

Is this picture of the Dome of the Rock potentially explosive?

Well, let's look at the picture of those mosaic tiles from another angle:-

A "Star of David" design?



(k/t+DA)

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A Pope and A Dome

CNN reported three days ago:

Pope Benedict XVI will not visit Israel's Holocaust museum when he makes his first trip to the region as pope in May, though he will visit a memorial that is part of the site, his ambassador to Israel said Tuesday.

He will also become the first pontiff to visit the Dome of the Rock, one of the holiest sites in Islam, said the envoy, papal nuncio Antonio Franco.

...the Yad Vashem complex in Jerusalem...includes controversial wording describing the role of Pope Pius XII during World War II, which is why Pope Benedict balked, an Israeli official said.

So,

a) if the Pope doesn't like the wording of an exhibit, does that mean that no Jew should show up at his Vatican office because some Catholic catechism may be offensive to Jews? If so, why did these Rabbis show up this week?

b) the Dome of the Rock, not being a mosque, is, I presume, an okay location although Muslims consider the entire walled-in compound a holy site. But he'll also be visiting the most holiest Jewish site and that should be stressed, even if we don;t have our Temple there. Yet.